This blog documents her journey.

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The other night, my husband and I played bowling and frisbee golf on the Wii Sorts Resort game. The next day, my right arm was so sore. In fact, it still is sore.

But the thing that really stands out for me is how muscular my forearm has become.

I’ve never felt muscle there before. That’s pretty cool!

And not only there. I’m starting to notice increased muscle tone in my legs, biceps and abs. Yes, there is still a layer of adipose over that muscle, but increased muscle mass means increased metabolic rate, as well as reduced inches.

All is right with the word and I feel very good. As my I Create My Body Lesson suggests … 210lbs here I come!

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Back when I had my first Mac, I had a game called Shanghai II. It was a matching game using Mah Jong tiles. The tiles would be stacked in a pattern and if you matched all of them, you got a fortune cookie.

I relished getting that cookie.

I would play that game over and over just to get that cookie.

The tiles were three dimensional. I would play so long I would see non-dimensional things in 3D. I’d be reading a book and the words would seem to pop out of the page. It was almost like an addiction.

Eventually, I upgraded my computer and the game no longer worked. I miss it, but that’s O.K.

So why am I sharing this?

Because I’ve noticed that I’m having the same kinds of feelings about the island cycling game on WiiFit Plus.

I believe it’s because of the flags.

You cycle around the island and tag flags. Once you’ve tagged them all, you go back to the finish line. The faster you accomplish the task, the better your score.

I keep trying to beat my score. It can be quite addictive.

Today I kind of tanked because I kept falling in the river while trying to jump it to save time. Erg.

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I just confirmed something I suspected was going on … my plateau is weight alone. My body is still getting smaller.

For the past three weeks, I’ve been measuring my waist on Mondays. Today, my waist was 38″. Last week it was 38.5″ and the week before that it was 39″.

During this two-week period, my weight has stayed roughly the same.

What does this tell me?

It tells me that I’m still moving toward my goal, even when it doesn’t show up on the scale. This is because my ultimate goal really isn’t to achieve some number on the scale (although that would be nice). My ultimate goal is to have a slender, healthy body that looks and feels good.

Because muscle tissue weighs more than fat, you can actually weigh more but be thinner when you are toned. And that’s O.K. with me.

So, I’m happy that during this little weight plateau my muscles have been improving, because that also translates to a higher metabolic rate. (Muscle tissue demands more energy than fat tissue.)

I’m going to count my blessings, focus on the positive and look forward to the coming reduction of the numbers on the scale.

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I’ve always held that much if not all of my excess weight has been caused by my mind. But I was never sure of how.

I mean, all this time, I’ve been eating the same amount I ate when I was 143lbs. How have I gained all this weight? Why was I gaining weight during these 13 years and not before?

And it struck me today, while I was in the shower after my afternoon workout, that the mind is so powerful, it can slow down your metabolism to satisfy an unconscious thought.

What my particular unconscious thoughts were is irrelevant to the conversation at hand. But suffice it to say, I’ve certainly had some reasons that I am now prepared to let go.

I believe that this is why other diets have not worked for me, but the I Create My Body program seems to be doing the trick. The crux of the program is working on the root of my issues — my mind and unconscious thoughts.

Through this program, I am using universal laws to reprogram my unconscious so that it will pull me toward my ideal body and weight.

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I subscribe to an inspirational newsletter called “Motivational Nuggets” from Carolyn McCormick. I think it’s daily, but it could be weekly.

Any way, today’s quote was:

“You are fortunate if you have learned the difference between temporary defeat and failure; more fortunate still, if you have learned the truth that the very seed of success is dormant in every defeat that you experience.”– Napoleon Hill

This quote really hit home for me. In case you haven’t noticed, my weight has been pretty stable the last few weeks. I haven’t been loosing and I’ve been a little bummed about it.

That said, I’m not looking at this plateau as a failure, but more of a “temporary defeat” … if even that. In fact, the plateau could very well hold the “seed of success” for my goal to reach 143lbs.

Think of it this way:

My body could be resetting the set point to a lower point. It is easier for the body to do that in smaller increments. So this is just a resting stop on my releasing weight journey.

My body could be building muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, so as you lose fat and gain muscle, you can actually be getting thinner while gaining weight.

One thing that makes me think the latter may be happening is that my waist got half an inch thinner since last week. You see, the WiiFit Plus has a place for you to record waist measurement. So last Monday I measured at 39″ … today I was 38.5″. This could be measurement error … or I could be getting thinner. I’m going to go with the latter. 🙂

So what does all this have to do with Lemonade? Well, when life throws you lemons (a weight loss plateau), make lemonade (look for the positives)!

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Yesterday, the temperature dropped enough that I went for both a morning and afternoon walk.

It is amazing how different the neighborhood looks in the afternoon.

In the morning, I see a lot of cats, doves and pigeons. In the afternoon, mostly sparrows.

In the morning, there are very few people (I’m usually walking around 7am). In the afternoon, many a front porch sported one or more people taking in the lovely day.

Also, when I walk, I usually have my mp3 player on. This time I brought my husband … I thought it would be rude to put on the headphones with him there. 😉 So the feeling of the walk was different, too. I spent some of the time pointing out the things that I usually saw. And he spent some of the time commenting on the things he noticed about our neighborhood … things I hadn’t thought about.

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I’m trying to clear out my cupboard so I don’t have to move (or throw away) a bunch of food when I move to Los Angeles at the end of July. This goal has led me to experiment with ingredients. Last night, I created a concoction I call “Chicken Peach Cobbler”:

I trimmed the fat off the chicken and placed it in a greased cake pan. Then I drained as much of the syrup off the peaches as I could and tossed them on top of the chicken. Then I put the veggies on top of that.

In a bowl, I mixed the pancake mix, soy milk, egg and melted butter together until all the mix was moist. And then I spread that on top of the chicken. Then I put some grated cheese on top of that.

I baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then dropped the temp to 350 and baked for another 10 minutes.

Because the chicken was still a little frozen, I ended up having to bake another good 20 minutes at 300 to 350 degrees.

I liked it. Rich thought it was “interesting.”

What would I do differently?

I would cook the chicken before putting it in the cake pan so that it doesn’t require such a long baking time. I’d probably cook it in some the peach syrup from the can, because baking the chicken with the peaches gave it a nice peachy quality.

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When I first started toying around with Yoga a few years ago, I fell in love with the Warrior Pose. It started with Kathy Smith’s Personal Trainer DVD. The routine was challenging for me but I loved the way the Warrior post felt.

Each and every time I came upon the Warrior pose … in any of it’s three variations … I was smitten.

One of the yoga poses that is part of the WiiFit and WiiFit Plus programs is the Warrior II post. I make sure I do that one at least once a day.

When I am fully focused in the pose, I feel powerful … like I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I feel like I am poised, I am strong, I am ready and capable to take on any challenge that comes my way.

Interestingly enough, the pose has a somewhat violent origin. It comes from scenes in as story about Shiva’s vengeance on his wife’s death. You can read about it here.

That said, as much as I’m a non-violent person, I do understand the pure physical power that can come from warrior training. Which reminds me of a conversation I had with Jack Hoban, who is both a respected martial arts practitioner and a leadership speaker. He told me about the concept of being an ethical warrior … be protector first, only resorting to violence when more peaceful tactics don’t work. Basically, “the Ethical Warrior protects and defends his life, the life of others, and all life if possible.”

Maintaining a healthy body is a holistic undertaking … requiring focus on body, mind and soul. That’s why I really like the approach taken with the I Create My Body program. It helps you cultivate the mindset that naturally and easily sets you on the path to doing all the right things for your body. Within a week or so of starting the program I already noticed a shift in my food cravings … and I hadn’t even tried to do that.